Weather loaches full of eggs
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 4:56 pm
It seems that the weather loach gals in my 29 gal tank are all ready for a fellow - they are getting round. I have 3 female common weather loaches in varying stages of hugeness - the biggest one is almost a full inch in diameter. I will try to post pics in a day or so. I also have 2 albino loaches that regularly try some mating dances, but I haven't been able to locate eggs from them. The male albino seems entirely uninterested in any of the other females, and sticks with the albino female. I am concerned that the other 3 will become egg-bound if I don't introduce another mature male, or even a near mature male. I had thought that one of the 3 was male, but now that they have all reached the 6" long size, it seems as though he's a she, or isn't interested in the type of females I have. The big enormously round one is a dark greenish with discrete 1/8" darker gray-green spots and a white belly, while the other two are more golden brown, one with a white belly and smaller spots, and the original one I thought was male has a very fine peppering of spots and a golden-beige belly. Since so little is known about these fish, I was thinking about looking for some similar ones that seem to have the male-type pointed pectoral fins and look more similar to the ones I have.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this? Tank details: These 5 are the only fish in the tank, and I am also wondering if I need to be concerned about adding even one more - I confess I don't do anything beyond filter the water and do some water changes, and they all seem happy as they can be. I don't heat the water at all, or my apartment, so the temps get low in winter (San Francisco varies from about 50 to about 68 degrees F over the course of the year) and this seems to make them even happier. The tank has heavy planting, and I leave algae on 3 sides for them (they love to go around and tug bites off for a quick meal. I am filtering with a Fluval in-tank filter with carbon media and the 'polishing' media. I don't test in any way. I have had them for at least a few years now - maybe 4.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this? Tank details: These 5 are the only fish in the tank, and I am also wondering if I need to be concerned about adding even one more - I confess I don't do anything beyond filter the water and do some water changes, and they all seem happy as they can be. I don't heat the water at all, or my apartment, so the temps get low in winter (San Francisco varies from about 50 to about 68 degrees F over the course of the year) and this seems to make them even happier. The tank has heavy planting, and I leave algae on 3 sides for them (they love to go around and tug bites off for a quick meal. I am filtering with a Fluval in-tank filter with carbon media and the 'polishing' media. I don't test in any way. I have had them for at least a few years now - maybe 4.